Take orchids, for instance. Orchids can be tricky plants; instead of offering up a delicious slurp of nectar, some species lure in unsuspecting male pollinators by mimicking female insects looking for a mate. And while Australia is home to only about five percent of the world’s orchid diversity, more than half of the known sexually deceptive orchid species on Earth evolved there.

Animals in Australia pull plenty of tricks, too. Australian crab spiders are particularly cunning; they sit on plants, lying in wait until a pollinator drops by for a visit. These tiny predators reflect UV light just as a flower might do to advertise its nectar, luring victims into the danger zone. This trick is a relatively common one in Australia, with at least five different species of spiders exhibiting UV deception. But in the rest of the world, it’s almost unheard of: there’s only one other known species of crab spider that pulls a similar trick, and it lives in India.

Simple measures of diversity don’t seem to explain the preponderance of deceptive species down under. So why is Australian wildlife so crafty? A new paper in Behavioral Ecology suggests a few hypotheses. First, it’s possible that Australia’s harsh climate might reward species that evolve new deceptive strategies. Australia’s history is also rife with biological invasions, which might help spur new symbiotic relationships between species. But it’s also possible that there’s a reporting bias and that there’s simply been more research into biological deception in Australia than elsewhere. A national research system that supports natural history research—as well as encourages innovative approaches and creative ideas—might be particularly likely to turn up examples of tricky species.

So far, these hypotheses are largely untested, and the paper is meant to ask questions, rather than to answer them. It's also an elegant example of how basic research can be used to lay the groundwork for testable hypotheses, ones that could potentially explain a larger biological (or perhaps sociological) phenomenon. But for now, the jury's still out on this one.

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Kate Shaw Yoshida
Kate is a science writer for Ars Technica. She recently earned a dual Ph.D. in Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior from Michigan State University, studying the social behavior of wild spotted hyenas. Emailkate.shaw@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KateYoshida

It's not just the wildlife, the people are like that too. Especially aboriginal australians but also anyone else who's lived here for a few generations.

I can't tell if you're using the term 'crafty' in a derogatory manner or not, and if you're joking or not, but one thing about Australia you may want to remember is that we have Racial Vilification laws.

It's not just the wildlife, the people are like that too. Especially aboriginal australians but also anyone else who's lived here for a few generations.

I can't tell if you're using the term 'crafty' in a derogatory manner or not, and if you're joking or not, but one thing about Australia you may want to remember is that we have Racial Vilification laws.

I'm not using it to mean anything one way or another, I just know a lot of people from other countries who have suffered serious cultural shock when they interact with us aussies.

We like to trick people, usually nothing gets hurt except maybe their emotions... but we also have thick skin. I have enough aboriginal friends, and ex girlfriend, to have noticed it's a *lot* more prevalent among them than it is people like me who migrated to Australia from Europe in the last hundred or so years.

Death by cyclone/hurricane is also very rare in australia, despite us having worse ones than, say, katrina. We achieve that by being better educated about the risks and how to behave when one hits, and by having tougher regulations about building codes — to the point where the government will pay to have your home demolished and force you to build a new one or live elsewhere if you haven't responded to warnings that it isn't rated for the type of cyclones in the area — we had that happen in a town I lived in. Everybody near the coast knows exactly how high above sea level their house is, and the police will walk door to door before a bad storm in risky areas telling everyone to leave. Anyone doesn't leave will be arrested and will weather the storm in jail (followed by a court case and hefty fine).

I have a friend who's a snake handler and has been bitten twice by snakes that would definitely have killed him except for the amazingly good medical treatment and fast response times of our emergency services. The second time he was already unconscious when they began treatment.

Also, the tourism industry presses hard to keep word of any deaths from reaching the general public. When somebody is killed by a crocodile, they often manage to keep it from reaching major news organisations. Every body of water and every walkway onto the beach where I live is plastered with signs warning that you might be killed you enter the water, and I've lived here my whole life without ever seeing any of the animals the signs warn against, because when they are seen they are captured and moved.

Our wildlife absolutely is dangerous, far more dangerous than india. The only reason it's "safe" here is because people know how bad it is, and avoid taking any risks.

People love to go on about all the deadly spiders, snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish, stone fish, octopus, sharks etc in Australia. The deadly stuff isn't much of a bother for locals as we all know about them and they help to keep the tourist/backpacker population in check.

What you really need to worry about is the non-deadly stuff that just hurts a lot. Irikandji jellyfish, Koala's with clamydia, fast bowlers (for the English) are all things you may survive and wish you hadn't.

First, it’s possible that Australia’s harsh climate might reward species that evolve new deceptive strategies. Australia’s history is also rife with biological invasions, which might help spur new symbiotic relationships between species.

Well harsh climates aren't unique to Australia. Second biological invasion should be rising worldwide with the growth in global trade.

What you really need to worry about is the non-deadly stuff that just hurts a lot. Irikandji jellyfish, Koala's with clamydia, fast bowlers (for the English) are all things you may survive and wish you hadn't.

It's not just the wildlife, the people are like that too. Especially aboriginal australians but also anyone else who's lived here for a few generations.

I find it interesting that traditional Australian Aborigines as well as we very different—from them and each other—Imports, tend to have evolved, or do evolve, the same dry sense of humour. It can't be coincidence.

I suspect it's a psychological defence against the geographic isolation in an often capriciously tough Australian climate. Only the psychologically robust with quick wits, have traditionally been able to survive.

A dry humour stemming from a response to the driest inhabited continent, also apparently extends to other Australian species: like our sense of humour, they appear to be what they aren't.

What you really need to worry about is the non-deadly stuff that just hurts a lot. Irikandji jellyfish, Koala's with clamydia, fast bowlers (for the English) are all things you may survive and wish you hadn't.

Definitely a good thing if this paper leads to more serious research. Terrestrial and arboreal octopuses have been flying under the radar for years & a few of them are dangerous such as the Pacific Octopus that collects chewing gum from Sitka pines

It isn't UV camouflage, but after taking photos in a Japanese iris garden I got home and started processing the photos and found this beautiful spider hiding in the center of one of the irises. I wish I'd noticed it at the time, I would have spent a lot of time trying to focus specifically on the spider. As it was, I was happy to get the lucky shot.

What if your sexy Aussie girlfriend turned out just a deception for a creature, that depends on your juice for sustenance ? Maybe this will explain the strange dissopearance of Aussie men in next few decades.

A dry humour stemming from a response to the driest inhabited continent, also apparently extends to other Australian species: like our sense of humour, they appear to be what they aren't.

Nobody lives in the dry parts of Australia. Something like 99.99% of the population is on the coast where it's wet. I took this photo a about 3 miles from my house:

Anyway, I don't think it's got to do with the climate, I think it's just the fact that many of us, especially in regional Australia (where I live) socialise with indigenous australians every day. As a kid I used to spend a few days a week with an aboriginal elder who was 25 years old when he began learning english, It's only natural for some of their culture to rub off on others.

Is the Australian climate really that harsh? I wouldn't know having never been abroad. The weather seems just fine.

The large majority of us live in more moderate climate zones, but there is a lot of the country which can be pretty unpleasant. There are other parts of the world which are hotter and/or drier, but I don't think "harsh" is too far off the mark for most of the country.

To give you an idea, here is the average max temp map for the month we are about to head into:

So there is a pretty large part of WA (where I live) that has a Jan average max temp of around 40C (that's 104F). I've spent enough time up there (particularly in Karratha, just north of that big red spot) to know I wouldn't want to live there.

While I'm in a posting mood, an OT point ... while most of us Aussies consider ourselves a pretty cynical, uncaring bunch, I think the response to the occasional .au-centric story on Ars demonstrates a pretty strong latent nationalism (anyone remember the comment thread for that CSIRO article? ... ouch). While I'm no bogan attaching flags on my car in late Jan, I'm certainly pretty quick to jump in to these threads.

What you really need to worry about is the non-deadly stuff that just hurts a lot. Irikandji jellyfish, Koala's with clamydia, fast bowlers (for the English) are all things you may survive and wish you hadn't.

What if your sexy Aussie girlfriend turned out just a deception for a creature, that depends on your juice for sustenance ? Maybe this will explain the strange disappearance of Aussie men in next few decades.